


Jealousy

by addiction1510



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Cultural Differences, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 08:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4172904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addiction1510/pseuds/addiction1510
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Throwing an arm around Steven’s shoulder in her wild tale and waving exaggeratedly with her free hand, Lapis barely caught the look Peridot had on her face. She had given Steven a look she had never seen before, and then the look was transferred to her. Since she was in the middle of her story, she didn’t bother stopping to see what was up. Instead she continued on telling the wild adventures she had had as a young gem, capturing every morsel of the young boy’s attention with her story as she wove the intricate tale of how she had gotten stuck in the mirror to begin with. So enraptured as she was, she barely noticed Peridot storm away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jealousy

Throwing an arm around Steven’s shoulder in her wild tale and waving exaggeratedly with her free hand, Lapis barely caught the look Peridot had on her face. She had given Steven a look she had never seen before, and then the look was transferred to her. Since she was in the middle of her story, she didn’t bother stopping to see what was up. Instead she continued on telling the wild adventures she had had as a young gem, capturing every morsel of the young boy’s attention with her story as she wove the intricate tale of how she had gotten stuck in the mirror to begin with. So enraptured as she was, she barely noticed Peridot storm away.

It happened again with Amethyst. The look she got was the same one when she got closer to her, brushing up against her as they laughed at the joke they had just played on Pearl. Her enraged scream had echoed through the temple, and they had spent the latter half of the day running from her fury once she had discovered they were the ones who had put the Peeps in the microwave. Despite being distracted by Amethyst and her hilarious jokes, the look wasn’t missed and neither was the storming off.

The next time Sadie came over to hang with her and Steven, Peridot came from the temple once. She gave Lapis the same look she had been getting an awful lot when she had sat in her lap, enjoying physical contact as much as she had since she had left the mirror. Once Peridot stormed off, Sadie was careful to gently push her off her lap back onto the sofa, and she wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was getting kind of annoying.

The next time she saw Peridot, she was nose deep in one of the robonoids. Pearl was by her side, asking questions and pointing out things she thought might cause the robot to malfunction. She thought about waiting, but that ran the risk of getting that weird look again, so instead of waiting or flinging herself on her girlfriend like she usually did when she wanted her attention, she simply cleared her throat. The older crystal gem noticed, glancing up mid sentence and stopping.

“Apologies Lapis. I didn’t hear you come in. We were just talking about–”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” she intercepted, not at all interested in what Pearl had to say. She ignored the angered look she got, instead stepping closer to the duo. “Would you mind if I talked to Peridot for a bit? It’s kinda important.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll leave you be. Please come get me when you’re done so we can continue our conversation on the fascinating little robonoids she has!” Pearl sounded so happy, and Lapis ignored her as she left the two of them alone. Her attention was on her girlfriend, who wasn’t even looking at her as she fiddled with the robot. She hadn’t since she walked in, and hadn’t said a word.

“Dot?” she asked softly, and the response was instantaneous, even if Peridot didn’t look at her.

“Don’t call me that.” The same response to the nickname as usual. She sighed and flopped down next to her, and didn’t even get a glance in her direction. Though Peridot was normally a self-proclaimed master at hiding her emotions, something was definitely off with her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked after a moment, resisting the strong urge to make a joke to try and lighten the mood. Peridot never got her jokes, but that was cool. She never got the ones that the Homeworld gem made either. Their sense of humour was too far apart.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! Plenty of things are wrong!” Whoa, okay, that escalated way too quickly. Peridot dropped the robot, turning to glare at Lapis. After a few seconds she turned away and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I… What?” Now she was confused. Peri was angry, kept giving her looks when she was with her friends, and was now pouting. Did she forgot something, or was she just being weird- no, wait, that was mean. Was she missing a link between their times again?

“What do you mean, what? Isn’t it obvious? You’re flirting with everyone!” That only managed to confuse her more. What the hell did she mean by that? Her head tilted curiously before it clicked. That was what the look had been about. Peridot had been jealous! She should have known. Maybe she did get a little cuddly with her friends, but that wasn’t really a reason to be mad at her, was it?

“You’re jealous of my friends?” she asked in bewilderment, and Peridot scoffed as if the very idea was prosperous.

“No! I’m sick of you getting so close and personal with everyone. You’re flirting! No one gets that close to someone unless they’re interested in them!” There was a pause before Peridot deflated, looking to her lap. That might have been the saddest she had ever seen her look. “Am I not enough for you?”

“Of course you are! You’re the perfect amount for me!” she assured, wrapping her arms around the green gem in a tight hug. “I didn’t realise it bugged you so much for me to be that close to everyone like that.” Another scoff greeted her ears, but she didn’t have her arms pushed off so that was a start.

“Yeah, perfect amount. Sure. Gems on Homeworld just don’t go around touching each other like they’re together, even if they are close.” Oh. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? Another difference in their times, their cultures. It was fine to act the way she did when Lapis was still in the loop, but now, apparently not.

“Dot, that’s now. It wasn’t always like that, and I didn’t know that’s how it was now. I’m sorry, you should have told me instead of storming off like that.”

“I thought you wanted to break up with me and I was scared.” Her voice was meek and soft, quiet in the small air around them. Lapis hugged her close and felt Peridot’s arms snake around her waist, pulling her close.

“I would never break up with you. I love you too much for that,” she told her gently, and Peridot nuzzled against her neck warmly before letting out a soft sigh against her skin.

“I love you too. I apologise for the cultural misunderstanding,” she murmured, holding tight onto her girlfriend. Lapis held on just as tight, breathing in the warm scent of electronics that always surrounded her lover.

“I’m sorry too,” she said quietly, and the silence descended upon them like rain. Neither seemed to care though, letting it hang around them as they held each other, a silent promise to talk about things more hanging in the air.


End file.
